Joseph Andrews and Shamela (Oxford World's Classics)

Having just read (and enjoyed) Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Shamela cleverly and wickedly reimagines that novel, while compressing the original’s 500 pages into 30 or so.Shamela the main character is a conniving and loose woman, a master manipulator who spends down her husband’s fortune while cuckolding him. She is as different from Richardson’s heroine Pamela as the town of Pottersville is from Bedford Falls ( the latter is Jimmy Stewart’s idyllic home in the movie It’s a wonderful Life, and the former is the dystopian place it would have been without Stewart.)Shamela reminded me of Frank Capra’s movie, where characters notable for their decency and kindness are transformed into their opposites, in this case for satirical purposes. Shamela can only be enjoyed after reading Richardson first and even in the right order it is something of a guilty pleasure.

After reading Richardson’s novel Pamela, this satire gives at least some perspective to the story as the “other side of the coin” and perhaps tempers the almost unbelievable virtue displayed in Pamela. However, reading these in 2018 with perspective of 250 years of history available to us, they are a good reminder that it’s still a dog eat dog world, as seen through the #metoo movement of 2017. Men in power abusing sex, other men in power blaming women as gold-diggers. Maybe now this ages old tale gets a new ending?

Good for insights into mid-eighteenth century society in England. Some scenes improbable, some hilarious. Overall very good.

Absorbing farce

One of my favorite purchases. The book arrived on time and in excellent condition. The book is a must have for serious scholars of this time period. I am most pleased to have found such an excellent addition to my library.

Not sure how I should apply adjectives to a book that made history. The style belongs to a bygone era; Shamela is fun because it is a satire, and not intended to be great literature.

Won’t order reprints in future- font difficult to read

Joseph Andrews and Shamela are hilarious counter responses to Pamela by Richardson that comment on the epistolary novel in a way that it is funny.

A great rebuke on Richardsn's Pamela.

There's 2 books in this one volume, and both were first conceived by Henry Fielding as a satire upon the then recently published and immensely popular novel  Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics)  by Samuel Richardson. But both - especially 'Joseph Andrews' - go beyond mere satire and are therefore still hugely enjoyable today, even if one hasn't read Richardson's 'Pamela' (few people have I would hazard to guess).In 'Joseph Andrews' Fielding chronicles the adventures of Joseph - supposedly the brother of Richardson's Pamela - in evading the amorous approaches by his employer Lady Booby (she herself sister to Pamela's fictional husband) and trying to obtain the hand of his girlfriend Fanny. In this Joseph and Fanny are assisted by their village parson Abraham Adams. This is pretty much all there is to it in terms of plot (nothing like the magnificent  Tom Jones (Oxford World's Classics)  which Fielding later was to write). In trying to make it to their home village in order to get married, the three of them meet with a variety of people, are robbed, imprisoned, entertained at various inns, ... These episodes, often only very loosely connected, enable Fielding to give a good-humoured but nonetheless scathing critique of all the sins of his contemporary society: bad manners, greed, hypocrisy, deceit, affectation, and so on and so forth.And most of the time it is parson Adams who functions as Fielding's mechanism to expose these vices, because Adams is in fact innocence personified: he is the type of man who practices what he preaches, will believe nothing but good of whomever he meets, is quick to take offence when his own character or religion is doubted but but equally ready to share (even give away) his last shilling with the needy. Measured against him and his practice, all other characters - however lofty the principles may be that they claim to adhere - are demasked as ever so many hypocritical rogues. So although in the course of the book Adams is often the dupe of the tricks played upon him by others, in moral terms he is the standard set by Fielding and measured against which the others are found wanting. Above all, he as a character very much comes alive and is one of the most original and likeable characters I've come across in a long time.If this may all sound a little dry and dull be assured that Fielding proves himself a superb humorist throughout the book, and be forewarned: chances are you'll be laughing out loud on trains, trams and busses if you hazard to read the book there.'Shamela' is very short (barely 40 pages) so can barely be called an epistolary novel as is Richardson's 'Pamela' but it does use the same technique, only here Shamela and her mother in their letters to each other and diverse others are exposed as an intriguing harpies instead of virtuous maidens.Fielding's stature as a literary giant is largely due to his great novel 'Tom Jones', and though the may not be on the same five star-level as that masterpiece I found both 'Joseph Andrews' and 'Shamela' very good books full of outright good-humoured fun. Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics)Tom Jones (Oxford World's Classics)

great

Joseph Andrews and Shamela are old friends and I simply ordered them as I had lost my previous copies in a move, so I am afraid I have nothing original to say. I can however add that I find the notes to the Oxford World's Classics edition excellent.

Needed this for class so I’m happy it’s available on here. It’s a good edition with a great price